The present invention relates to an inverter apparatus including a converter unit for converting a three-phase ac power supply to dc electric power, a smoothing capacitor for smoothing the dc electric power, an inverter unit for converting the smoothed dc electric power to ac electric power with variable frequency and variable voltage, and a control unit for controlling the converter unit and the inverter unit, so as to drive a motor with a variable speed.
FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a conventional inverter apparatus.
In the drawing, reference numeral 30 denotes a three-phase ac power supply; 31, a converter unit for converting ac electric power supplied from the three-phase ac power supply 30 to dc electric power; 32, a smoothing capacitor for smoothing this dc electric power; 33, an inverter unit for converting the smoothed dc electric power to ac electric power with variable frequency and variable voltage; 34, a CPU; 35, a memory constituted by a RAM; and 36, a memory for storing inverter controlling software which is a controlling program for controlling the inverter apparatus, the memory 36 being generally constituted by a ROM. In addition, numeral 37 denotes a parameter storage unit for storing parameters which are set on the basis of the specifications of operation of the inverter apparatus.
The control unit for controlling the converter unit 31 and the inverter uniter 33 is comprised of the CPU 34, the memory 35, the memory 36, and the parameter storage unit 37.
Numeral 38 denotes a display device for such as a parameter unit and having a display portion for displaying the state of operation of the inverter apparatus or the state of parameter setting as well as an input portion for setting data and inputting commands and the like, and numeral 40 denotes a motor.
With the conventional inverter apparatus, the CPU 34 executes the program of the inverter controlling software, which has been read from the memory 36, on the basis of various parameters which have been set in the parameter storage unit 37, whereby the inverter apparatus is controlled to output ac electric power with variable frequency and variable voltage, thereby driving the motor with a variable speed.
With the above-described conventional inverter apparatus, the arrangement provided is such that the inverter apparatus operates on the basis of the controlling program stored in advance in the memory 36 as the inverter controlling software. For this reason, there has been a problem in that in a case where special operation is required which cannot be controlled by the controlling program stored in advance in the inverter apparatus, an exclusive-use controlling program must be prepared and reinstalled in the inverter apparatus as the inverter controlling software.
In addition, there have been additional problems that in a case where all the controlling programs which can be operated are installed in advance in the inverter apparatus, it becomes necessary to increase the storage capacity of the memory, and that the running time becomes long during the operation of the inverter apparatus.
The present invention has been devised to overcome the above-described problems, and its object is to obtain an inverter apparatus which is capable of easily coping with various applications.
An inverter apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises: a converter unit for converting a three-phase ac power supply to dc electric power, a smoothing capacitor for smoothing the dc electric power, an inverter unit for converting the dc electric power to ac electric power with variable frequency and variable voltage, and a control unit for controlling the converter unit and the inverter unit, so as to drive a motor with a variable speed, wherein a controlling program for controlling the inverter apparatus is separated into an inverter-controlling basic program for handling common basic performance and an inverter-controlling application program for handling different control depending on specifications, the inverter-controlling basic program is stored in a first storage unit, and the inverter-controlling application program is transferred from outside the inverter apparatus to a second storage unit through a telecommunication means.
In addition, the second storage unit is capable of storing a plurality of the inverter-controlling application programs.
In addition, the inverter apparatus further comprises a parameter storage unit to allow the setting of the propriety of execution of the inverter-controlling application program.
In addition, the inverter apparatus further comprises a parameter storage unit to allow the setting of the order of priority in the execution of the inverter-controlling application program and a processing time interval of execution thereof.
In addition, the propriety of execution of the inverter-controlling application program, the order of priority in execution thereof, and the processing time interval of execution thereof can be set in the parameter storage unit from outside the inverter apparatus through a telecommunication means.
In addition, the inverter apparatus further comprises a display device for displaying a state of installation of the inverter-controlling application program, the propriety of execution thereof, the order of priority in execution thereof, and a processing time interval of execution thereof.